Former NBA All-Star Steve Francis, who recently wrote an essay about his battles with alcohol abuse in The Players' Tribune, was arrested for public intoxication in Burbank, California, on Sunday night.
Burbank police said they responded to a report of an unruly patron in a hotel bar. After observing him, they arrested Francis for public intoxication, saying they "determined he was under the influence to an extent that he posed a risk to his own safety and the safety of others. "
Francis was taken to jail and given a citation, then released around 7 a.m. local time Monday morning.
Francis wrote an article for The Players' Tribune posted March 9 in which he detailed his history with alcohol, his exploits in the NBA, and a childhood that included being a "phone boy" for crack sellers and selling crack himself.
In The Players' Tribune piece, Francis said alcohol abuse contributed to the decline of his NBA career. He said that despite his youthful drug dealing, he never had a drug problem.
"But the hardest part was reading some bulls--- on the Internet saying that I was on crack," Francis wrote. "When I thought about my grandmother reading that, or my kids reading that ... that broke my heart. Listen, I sold crack when I was growing up. I'll own up to that. But never in my life did I ever do crack.
"What happened to Steve Francis? I was drinking heavily, is what happened. And that can be just as bad. In the span of a few years I lost basketball, I lost my whole identity, and I lost my stepfather, who committed suicide."
